Chicago Story: Whisper in my ear …

… and I’ll have a better idea what’s going on! I sat in a workshop at the training and had Alex in my ear, his nice, deep voice interpreting the workshop for me. Interpreting because yes, the whole shebang in Chi-town was in Spanish, a language I barely speak.

I went to Chicago for a training hosted by the National Institute of Adult Education of Mexico (INEA). The training was focused on their “Plazas Comunitarias” educational program for native Spanish speakers. I’ve been to a couple of their trainings in the last few years. Best of all was the one in 2006 when I got to go to Veracruz, Mexico for a week! The Chicago ‘encuentro’ was the first time INEA sponsored a major training in the States, and everyone was very excited about it. A long line of Mexican dignataries came to speak, and there was quite a lot of pomp and circumstance to open the meeting and sprinkled throughout.

So I had an interpreter. Not just for me, but sort of. For some reason I couldn’t really understand, most of the English-only (or English-mostly) people denied their need and didn’t sit with the interpreters. Was it vanity, pride, shame? It seemed so ridiculous to refuse assistance, to prefer to understand only bits and pieces of what was said … but it also meant I only had to share Alex, Paula, Lorenzo and Chris with one other person. There were four interpreters, one for each of the facilitators who cycled through our workshop group (’el grupo amarillo’ … as opposed to los grupos rojo, verde, y azul). Each had a slightly different style, but all were great.

Going to Plazas/INEA trainings always creates such a curious situation. When I travel, it’s easy for me to be in a language minority. I have no problem adapting to the lack of signs in English, the fact that people I meet might not be able to talk to me. But in my professional life, I’m not used to being in this position.

My first training for Plazas gave me a taste of what the ESOL students in my program must deal with all the time … and I didn’t like it. I arrived at the workshop only to find that there were no interpreters on hand for the opening speeches and presentations. I asked and was met with surprise: oh, you don’t speak? Oh. Some guy who was not an interpreter was pressed into service and everyone who admitted that they needed help (again, most of the English-only folks kept their hands down when the question was asked) sat with this poor guy and he did his best to interpret for us. And the materials for the training? Oh, we have English books, but we forgot them. They’ll be here in another day or two (for a 3-day training).

It was frustrating to say the least. Made me feel unwelcome and freakish.

In Veracruz things were better, but there were still some gaps, some areas for improvement. In Chicago, however, INEA really got it right. For the big, full-group presentations (the speeches from the Mexican governors and ministers and Ambassador Sarukhan) we had headsets linked to Paula and another interpreter in a booth. For the workshops, we had the Alex-in-my-ear set up.

There was just one downside to the workshop arrangement. There were only two of us taking advantage of the interpreters’ services, and my companion drove me nuts. She seemed to think that having the interpreter was an invitation for a side conversation on the workshop topic! She kept interrupting and asking questions about Plazas. Now the interpreters don’t work for INEA. They were hired for the day, period. They were there to tell us what the presenters had to say, not to answer very detailed questions about how the program works. So annoying. The guys did a pretty good job of steering her back to listening to the presenters, Alex and Lorenzo best of all. Paula was a little more inclined to engage her.

So I commend INEA for not making me feel like a second class citizen this time around. Bodes well for the next training … the next week-long extravaganza, scheduled for November in Guadalajara!